These days there are a number of scams out there such as fake websites, email phishing, and telephone scams. Criminals try and lure you into giving them your personal information in an attempt to steal your identity or get money from you illegally. These scammers intentionally impersonate trusted brands like Mogo and other lenders to appear authentic, making it easier to trick unsuspecting consumers. They may even use logos and official-sounding email addresses or draw you to a website that appears legit.
To help you identify a potential scam, here are some things to be on the lookout for:
- Emails sent from a non-branded company email address (e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, etc.), Pay close attention to the email address being used to contact you, they might try to make it look like a Mogo email by adding the company name to a generic email domain for example MogoLoans@gmail.com.
- Mogo will only email you from an email address ending in:
- @mogo.ca OR
- @email.mogo.ca OR
- @info.mogo.ca.
- Legitimate lenders do not use generic email addresses to conduct business. Watch for slight spelling variations like Mogoo instead of Mogo.
- Up Front Fees: Legitimate businesses, especially consumer loan companies, would never ask or require you to pay a “handling/processing/application” fee upfront, in order to get a loan.
- Mogo would never ask you to send money in order to get a loan, only fraudsters would ask you to do that.
- Deposit money in your bank for no reason: Only scammers would deposit money into your bank account and then ask you to send the money back to them in some roundabout method. This is not a business practice of a legitimate business. Trust your instincts, if something seems strange you are probably right!
- Payment in virtual currency: The most common currency used by fraudsters is a virtual currency like Bitcoin and sometimes even prepaid cards or gift cards. Bitcoin is legitimate and can be used as currency, but because it is untraceable it is often used by fraudsters. If someone is asking you to pay them in a virtual currency you should be very cautious. Sometimes the scammers will ask you to buy some type of prepaid card and then send the cards to them or make some type of transaction that ultimately sends them value on the prepaid cards.
- Giving out banking login and password over the phone: Mogo would never request your banking login credentials over the phone or by email. Mogo partners with trusted verification systems via which you would log into your bank account to share information through a secure environment but anyone that asks you to provide your login info or your bank card and password should not be trusted.
Additional tips to help protect yourself from being a victim of fraud:
- If in doubt about the legitimacy of a text message, email or phone call, do not provide any personal information
- Contact Mogo at help@mogo.ca or chat with us online to verify what is being asked of you, if you log in to your MogoAccount before you chat you won’t have to answer verification questions
- Mogo’s online chat service is encrypted and secure
- Never send money to an unknown source
- Be suspicious of emails that contain typos, errors and poor grammar
- Watch for signs that a website isn’t real:
Look at the website address or URL - a secure website address begins with “https”. The “s” means that the website is secure. You will also see a picture of a“lock” on a secure website, like in the image below:
If you think you’ve encountered a scam or have concerns about the legitimacy of a product offering, see important information below or email us right away at help@mogo.ca or chat with us online. You can help further protect yourself against identity fraud by signing up for MogoProtect, a subscription service that notifies you whenever a company makes an inquiry into your Equifax credit bureau. Learn more.
If you feel that you have been the target of suspicious activity, please contact the RCMP’s Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501, or visit their website.
Mogo Warns Public of Scam
It has come to our attention that a number of fraudsters have been creating fake websites and posing as loan companies in order to collect information from unsuspecting consumers. Their next step is to reach out to you via anonymous email (usually Gmail), posing as a lender. They will try to get you to give them confidential information such as your online banking login information or bank card number and password. The first step is to deposit money in your bank account and then ask you to purchase some type of prepaid card or gift card.
It is important that you take the necessary steps to protect your personal information and to also help shut down the fraudsters. When reported to the police by consumers such as you, they are able to take action and in some cases shut down the fraudulent websites.
If you have given someone your banking info including but not limited to your online login/ATM card number and password and/or sent them copies of your ID and other information they could use to steal your identity it is critical you take immediate action. This page contains a lot of important information, but you should seek out information from your bank, the credit bureau and government agencies as to other steps you can take to protect yourself.
- Contact your bank right away and explain the situation. Let them know what banking information you have given out.
- Contact the fraud department at Equifax and TransUnion and advise them to put an “Identity Alert” on your bureau record
- Equifax www.equifax.ca 1-800-465-7166 and
- TransUnion www.transunion.ca 1-800-663-9980
- You will need to get a copy of your credit report and watch it on a regular basis and pay close attention to the alerts you receive
- When you apply for credit, the lender (the business you’re attempting to get credit from) will make an inquiry to the credit bureau. If someone is applying for credit under your name you will see the inquiry on your report. The fraudulent inquiries are the ones that you yourself did not apply for.
- Be sure to get the date, name of creditor, and phone number of every inquiry that shows up on your credit bureau that you did NOT authorize/apply for. You will need this to file a police report.
- Once you have gathered all the details, you will need to report any fraud or suspicious activity to your local police. Be sure to make a note of all your calls and correspondence with them and write down any police report numbers they provide you with.
- To file a police report, reach out to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by phone at 1-888-495-8501 (toll-free) or alternatively through their new online system called Fraud Reporting System. You will be able to provide all of the details surrounding your situation in an online form.
- You will also want to report the incident to any financial institutions or businesses that were used to commit the fraud. For example, If you received a fraudulent loan offer from someone claiming to be an employee of Mogo you would want to report this to Mogo. Depending on the situation, when you report the incident to them they may ask for your police or incident report number so be sure to have it on hand.